Who has the top-selling car in the world? That’s a battle between the Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) Focus vs. Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO:7203) Corolla. On Wednesday, Ford said that the Focus was the top selling vehicle based on registration data gathered by R.L. Polk & Co.

Ford sold 589,709 Focus vehicles between January and June 2013 across the world, which is a 20% increase over the first half of last year. Ford said that the Focus beat the Toyota Corolla for the period. A Polk spokesperson confirmed that the number provided by Ford was accurate. If the Ford Focus tops the Toyota Corolla in 2013, it would be the second time in a row.

Toyota said that they have the top ranking though. Toyota said that they sold a Corolla hatchback under the name “Matrix.” Toyota also sells cars that are identical to the Corolla with different names in countries outside of the U.S. Ford does not know Toyota’s numbers and Toyota did not reveal them. However, Toyota said that if all the nameplates are added in the tally, then the Corolla is the winner.

Ford said that the Focus’ saw a large gain due to sales in China. Sales more than doubled to 202,380 in the first half of the year there. There has been a new version of the Focus on the market for only about a year in China. However, the sales of the Focus is not as good in the U.S. Sales are only up 1% to 188,654 through September. The U.S. sales overall are up more than 8% for the first three quarters of the year.

The Ford Focus and C-Max gas-electric hybrid sales have slowed down, which is why Ford is planning a two-week shutdown of the Michigan Assembly Plant during the fourth quarter to control the inventory.